May 8, 2019
Jaravia to La Joya
train from Murcia
I decided to go with cycling towards Almeria and hope I was wrong about train not running between Almeria and Granada. However decided to catch an earlier train to Jaravia, as there is only 3 local trains all the way there. Train ride was straight forward on a nearly empty train. Therefore I missed out on exploring Murcia and had to cancel my warmshower host James located only 40Kms from Jaravia. There is a former railway route between Murcia and Guadix but only small sections have been converted to rail trail and one gap in rail trail would involve cycling on freeway and it’s a mountainous route as the railway line curved around. Hopefully one day it is made into a rail trail all the way.
Sometimes when bicycle touring you have moving days when your focus is on getting to the next point of interest which will not be until the next day rather than have any point of interest for that day. My route follows the Mediterranean coastline for some parts before climbing away. After going through a resort town with a small supermarket, it became okay for the first 20kms as the road is up and down but quiet traffic with views of the sea and small towns.
However suddenly a coastal strip appears out of nowhere and suddenly the traffic increases 10 fold and there is occasionally bike lanes but rest of the time was spent cycling on busy road through continuous population for 20kms. Didn't take photos of it but it wasn't fun and I saw a few British people living or on holiday here. This is one reason why I dislike coastal cycling, another is because often roads are roller coast in style and today was no exception as soon as population decrease the road begins to climb up and down and the third reason for avoiding coastal cycling is wind which began and it was mostly a head wind.
Did consider turning around back to my warmshower with James as I had just cycled past his place. Instead continued, as soon as I turned the wind changed direction and helped push me up the hill, which involves climbing for a while before descending on switch backs before another small climb to the town of Carboneras, which was much quieter than previous towns and apparently parts of Laurence of Arabia was film here. After another climb to a tourist lookout that didn’t look that impressive but was busy with people stopped here including a tourist bus. Wind was getting worse and I nearly stopped in the town of Auga Amarga but the campground was more setup for campervans so continued but stopped soon afterwards finding an empty building to shelter in and was asleep by 9pm. Had hoped to get further today.
Today's ride: 76 km (47 miles)
Total: 1,280 km (795 miles)
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